Potential mechanism of myocardium apoptosis of right ventricle in rat under chronic hypoxia / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

AIM: We used an animal model of chronic hypoxia to mimic right ventricular hypertrophy and try to study the potential mechanism of myocardium apoptosis of right heart in rat under chronic hypoxia.METHODS: Rat hypoxia models were established by exposing the rats to normobaric chronic hypoxia(oxygen levels were maintained at 9.5%-10.5%).Sixty rats were separated into two groups one exposed to hypoxia and the other serving as control.Ten rats,randomly selected from each group were killed at 14,21,28 d after hypoxia.The apoptosis was determined.The changes of RV weight to left ventricle and interventricular septum weight ratio[RV/(LV+S)],the RV weight to body weight ratio(RV/BW) were also observed.The ?-MHC,bcl-2 and bad mRNA levels in right ventricle were detected by semi-quantitative RT-PCR assays and expression of ?-MHC,Bcl-2 and Bad protein levels were detected by Western blotting.RESULTS: The RV/(LV+S),RV/BW and apoptosis index in chronic hypoxia group were higher than those in normal control group(P0.05).Finally,a decreased bcl-2/bad ratio in chronic hypoxia group was found compared with control group(P